1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of health and wellness. More specifically, the invention comprises a method for accurately calculating the volumes of portions of an individual's body, and using the calculated volumes to visually track changes in body appearance over time using a computer generated representation of the individual's body volume.
2. Description of the Related Art
In assessing and monitoring the efficacy of weight and exercise programs, it is often helpful to know the volume of a portion or portions of the body. Many weight and exercise programs produce results that are not directly quantified as weight loss. For example, a diet of increased protein with weight training may lead to weight gain but an overall reduction in body volume. An individual may also lose body volume in a certain area but increase volume in another while experiencing a weight loss. Understanding and visualizing the dynamic changes in volume and correlating them to weight changes can assist an individual in understanding and maximizing the effectiveness of a particular weight and exercise program. More efficient and individual specific programs can be developed by understanding an individual's response to certain types of dietary and exercise programs.
An individual commonly uses his or her body weight as a means to gauge overall health and wellness. Individuals also often use the measurement of weight change to evaluate the efficacy of certain dietary and exercise programs. Observations of weight alone do not accurately convey the entire state of an individual's results with regard to a specific dietary and exercise program, however.
To properly document the progress of dietary and exercise programs it is often necessary to evaluate factors such as volumetric changes over time. It is very difficult to repeat one or two measurements taken of a particular location, since they may not be tied to a convenient anatomical reference. Thus, the traditional approaches may not be able to provide repeatable results even in terms of a qualitative change over time. If, as an example, an individual measures the diameter of his or her forearm between the wrist and the elbow, it may be difficult to accurately repeat the position of the measurement when the individual measures the forearm a week later. If a different diameter is then observed, the individual will not know whether it represents a change in weight or merely an artifact of the measurement process.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a measurement and volume calculation technique that is easily repeatable and accurately estimates the volumes of various portions of an individual's body. It would also be desirable to have a tool that may be used to correlate the volumetric data of an individual to certain factors affecting the individual's exercise and health management program. It would also be desirable for this tool to provide a computer-generated representation of the individual's body volume to aid the individual in understanding and visualizing the dynamic changes in volume.